Headlights

[shastamonk]

Ok. It's my turn to contribute a little to this awesome sight! I can't count how many times this sight has saved my you know what! My wife's 04 Cayenne S has had more problems then I care to mention. I just wish it was as reliable as my 03 Boxster S.

I upgraded my stock headlights over the years with a aftermarket HID from Vertex and did the de-amber thing as well. But lately my headlights have started looking dull and foggy. So today I decided to do a facelift. I removed one of the assemblies and placed it in the oven. I started at 185 F and worked my way up to 250 F. I used a cookie sheet and checked the assembly frequently trying to pry it apart. I had no luck until I tried 250 F. Our oven is a convection and I don't know if this will make a difference. After I separated the lens I cleaned and painted the insides with silver spray paint. I did not hit everything, just the areas I thought would show. I removed the plastic defuser. I also took apart the corner and sprayed the dark grey with silver. I used clear silicon to glue the corner assembly back together. My lights looked foggy but i could never get them clean until today. I had a film buildup on the inside that came off with window cleaner! So after cleaning and painting everything i put the assembly back together using black silicone/adhesive. The end results turned out great! I looks like it belongs on the car. OEM but high end. Here are some pics. I will post more when I do the other side. The passenger side is the one I did the work on, the drivers side is the old one.

Scott

Edited November 19, 2009 by shastamonk
removed whitespace

[JeTexas]

I'm about to attempt the same on an old set of my lights. I had heard set them on a block of wood for 3 minutes in the oven at 300 degrees. I'll try 250 first. What did you use to pry them apart?

[shastamonk]

I used a screwdriver. Once I got them started I used my hands to pull them apart. You will need gloves. Also I tried to remove the old glue on the first light and it made a mess. The second one I just applied a thin bead of silicon and clamped it back together. I think the seal was a lot better the second round. My defusers where a little brown so I did not put them back it. The pics I have really don't do it justice. The results are night and day! I think the reason the photos don't show too much differnce is because the car is pointed back towards the garage and its dark in there. I took a test drive tonight after I finished the second one and WOW they are bright! I really had to make sure the alignment was correct so not burn anyones eyes out of there sockets. The beam is very focused. This is good and bad. Good for whatever is straight ahead but I might be comprimising the side vision a little. Also the my fog lights look great after using silver on the surrounds. Overall I'm very happy and I'd do it again if I had the choice. My car looks new again.

Scott